Saving Monticello: The Levy Family's Epic Quest to Rescue the House that Jefferson Built [Paperback]

Marc Leepson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 2003

How a Jewish navy veteran and his descendants saved one of America's most recognizable architectural landmarks

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this excellent account of Monticello's ownership after Thomas Jefferson's death, Leepson, who has written for the New York Times, Preservation and Smithsonian, turns the spotlight on a family that contributed to the preservation of history but heretofore went unnoticed. When Jefferson died in 1826 his enormous debt (even by today's standards) forced his heirs to sell the beloved estate. Unfortunately, James Turner Barclay, a Charlottesville, Va., druggist who paid $7,000 for it, let the house decline during the few years he owned it. In 1834 the house was purchased by U.S. Navy Lieutenant Uriah Phillips Levy, a wealthy, bold, passionate admirer of Jefferson who quickly poured money into its repair. Thus began this Jewish-American family's nearly 90-year proprietorship of Monticello. After being briefly appropriated by the Confederacy during the Civil War, it again landed in the hands of a Levy, Uriah's nephew Jefferson Levy. Monticello became a kind of surrogate child for this extremely successful, unmarried businessman and sometime politician. When the patriotic New York socialite Maud Littleton began her campaign to make Monticello a government-owned shrine in 1911, the battle that ensued in Congress and the newspapers was as emotional as any child custody battle, but more compelling for the dynamic lives and personalities involved. Through extensive research and with fascinating detail, Leepson uncovers the facts surrounding Monticello's owners and preservation involved are great wealth, patriotism, anti-Semitism, and social and political influence. Leepson's absorbing account is an overdue chronicle and homage to the national treasure and its memorable saviors.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Hang on for a wild ride through history with colorful characters that even Jefferson's imagination couldn't have foreseen.

(Norfolk Virginian-Pilot )

In this excellent account of Monticello's ownership after Thomas Jefferson's death, Leepson... turns the spotlight on a family that contributed to the preservation of history.... With fascinating detail, Leepson uncovers the facts surrounding Monticello's owners and preservation.

(Publishers Weekly )

This book provides useful and welcome evidence of the Levys' role [in saving Monticello]. Leepson is a diligent, thorough researcher.... [A] good book.

(Washington Post )

Leepson... has opened the curtain on a little-known portion of American history, and Saving Monticello is a welcome treat... a fascinating book.

(Chicago Tribune )

In its own way, the story of the Levys at Monticello is as compelling as the story of Jefferson at Monticello. It's not simply a story of how a remarkable family saved a special place, it's a very human story -- indeed, a very American story -- wonderfully told. I highly recommend it.

(Richard Moe, President, National Trust for Historic PreservationRoanoke Times 9/14/03 )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: University of Virginia Press; 1 edition (March 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813922194
• ISBN-13: 978-0813922195
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #747,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Here are a few highlights of my professional career, which began at the relatively advanced age of 28 when I went to work as a proofreader at Congressional Quarterly in Washington. My career path had been put off track by an unplanned two-year stint in the U.S. Army, which included a year in Vietnam. I was drafted on July 11, 1967, soon after I'd graduated from college, George Washington University.

After I got out of the Army in 1969, I didn't know what I wanted to do, then decided to go to graduate school at GW. It took me two years to get my MA (in European history) because I ran out of money after two semesters and had to work full time.

My first job after getting the degree was as a substitute letter carrier with the U.S. Postal Service in Silver Spring, Maryland, a job in which I found not a little satisfaction. But after seven months of delivering the mail in the Maryland suburbs, my wife and I moved from Silver Spring to her family farm in Virginia.

I decided to try free-lance writing and my first work appeared in alternative newspapers in Washington and in a small newspaper in Manassas, Virginia. I worked in bookstores (Walden and B. Dalton) until I was hired at CQ in June of 1974.

I was a proofreader for a year, an editorial assistant for a year and a half and then became a full-time staff writer in 1977. I've been writing full time ever since.

If you would like to know more about my writing career, I invite you to go to my website: www.marcleepson.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Forgotten Chapter of History, Rightly Restored, May 24, 2003

By 

W. C HALL (Newport, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Saving Monticello: The Levy Family's Epic Quest to Rescue the House that Jefferson Built (Hardcover)

Everyone who knows the basic history of Monticello knows about Jefferson bringing his young bride to his "little mountain"; the evolution and growth of the house he was continually tearing down and putting up; his mostly happy retirement there, shadowed by his battles with debt; and finally the end of that magnificent life there on July 4, 1826, fifty years to the day after the young republic had declared its independence with the words from his pen....

And we know the magnificently restored estate of today, a beacon for millions of visitors who want to draw closer to that man of countless gifts.....

But there's been a missing chapter in the Monticello story for too long; the years from Jefferson's death to its opening to the public have been passed over in most histories with at best, a few paragraphs.

"Saving Monticello" fills that gap perfectly. Here we learn of the estate's decline after Jefferson's death, only arrested with the intervention of the Levy family, who are given their rightful due as stewards of this magnificent property. What happened to Monticello during the Civil War? What were some of the odd uses proposed for it? For answers to these questions and many more, read this well-crafted book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Saving Monticello" is a much needed book!, June 23, 2004

By 

Barbara P. Burdette (Pittsburgh, PA. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saving Monticello: The Levy Family's Epic Quest to Rescue the House that Jefferson Built (Hardcover)

I highly recommend Marc Leepson's book 'Saving Monticello' because it gives credit to the Levy family without whose help and stewardship Monticello may have been erased forever.
His detail and insight of story serve to hold the reader's interest of not only Thomas Jefferson, but of the history of the time. Mr. Leepson very patiently educates us about the Levy family and their unwavering loyalty to Monticello. I had often wondered what had happened to Monticello during the years after Jefferson's death until the Memorial Foundation took it over and now is supplied to us a fascinating history, a thread which we must all be tempted to follow and remember as part of our own history. I cannot imagine looking at Monticello in the same way as I did before I read Mr. Leepson's, "Saving Monticello".

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost Lost, April 21, 2004

By 

Richard "lewis63" (Hopewell Junction, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saving Monticello: The Levy Family's Epic Quest to Rescue the House that Jefferson Built (Hardcover)

I have just finished reading "Saving Monticello" and want to say just how much I enjoyed it. I am a long-time fan of Jefferson and particularly his architectural endeavors (the subject of my master's thesis) so I go out of my way to find new items on the subject. It was great to learn about those "lost years" of Monticello that up until now have barely been touched on and I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in American history. The author has clearly delineated what a tenuous hold we sometimes have on important landmarks and how easily they can be lost to future generations if we are not careful.